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Old Posted Jan 20, 2012, 1:53 PM
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HRM scores near top of economic activity index

HRM scores near top of economic activity

ALEX BOUTILIER

METRO HALIFAX

Published: January 20, 2012 2:46 a.m.

Last modified: January 20, 2012 2:50 a.m.

The Halifax Regional Municipality came in fourth in CIBC’s latest ranking of metropolitan economic activity.

HRM scored 16.8 on CIBC World Market’s Metropolitan Economic Activity Index, placing just behind Kitchener (18.0), Edmonton (20.0), and Toronto (23.0).

The ranking takes into account indicators such as population growth, employment and unemployment, housing starts and bankruptcy rates.

While HRM did not stand out in any of those measures, it scored sufficiently high in a number of categories to rank near the top of the list.

“The city enjoyed a relatively healthy popula­tion growth while the labour market is per­forming somewhat above average,” the report notes. “The real estate market is well balanced, with housing starts rising by well over 40 per cent (year-over-year) in the third quarter of 2011.”

The report ranked 25 of Canada’s largest municipalities, including two other Atlantic cities. St. John’s placed 13th on the list with a score of 11. Saint John came in at 17th, with a score of 7.1.
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Old Posted Jan 20, 2012, 10:42 PM
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All that was in spite of HRM Council, who make every effort to stifle economic activity.

Imagine how well this city would be doing if we had a council that (a) had a collective clue and (b) were all pulling in the same direction.
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Old Posted Jan 20, 2012, 10:59 PM
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I agree. I think Halifax has a lot of advantages and could become one of the most desirable cities in Canada -- a place where people and businesses from across the country might regularly choose to locate just as they might choose to move to Toronto or Vancouver. Unfortunately that is not going to happen with high commercial tax rates, a lack of investment in the most productive parts of the city, and constant meddling from councillors.

As I mentioned in the other thread there's an attitude that none of the meddling really matters, and that it will all be sorted out, but that's not true. Councillors can torpedo new buildings but that creates waste and lowers the overall amount of new construction. As a result hundreds of jobs are not created, the tax base of the city grows less (so commercial taxes go up more), and it is harder for people and businesses to find space. This effect compounds year after year to the point where well-run cities leave the rest in the dust.

If you look at the downtown in particular it's obvious that a lot of the problems are the result of government meddling. Most of the empty lots are owned by the government or have become embroiled in government affairs or lengthy appeals (Nova Centre site, UG). The waterfront is government-controlled and sat as parking lots for decades while dozens of private lots nearby were developed.
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Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 1:25 PM
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I was at the Halifax Business Awards last night, and it was really quite interesting to hear the chatter and get a sense of the overall vibe among the business owners.

There was a lot of talk, both by the chair of the chamber of commerce and in general chatter amongst the attendees, about a real business confidence about the next 5 years. Comments like "The last couple of years were about surviving, but the next few years are going to be all about growth." were noticeable. People were listing off the shipbuilding contract, Shell's billion dollar exploration deal, Deep Panuke coming on line etc etc etc and really talking in excited tones about what they felt were opportunities for the growth of their own businesses.

It was really quite refreshing to see/hear... there was none of the negativity surrounding things, relative to what the CH seems to portray sometimes, and there was a genuine feeling that things are growing in multiple sectors and things look good.

Last edited by beyeas; Jan 28, 2012 at 12:16 PM. Reason: Spelling mistake
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Old Posted Jan 27, 2012, 8:06 PM
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As I guess everybody here knows already, one should take what the media say with a grain of salt. They have an incentive to sensationalize stories to get readers to pay attention.

It also seems to me that the quality of Halifax's print media has gone down over the past few years. The Herald has been dealing with layoffs and even The Coast may have been better a few years ago. I could be wrong, but I remember it having more balanced and informative articles, whereas now those have been replaced by Tim Bousquet's dogmatic screeds.

Halifax has been doing really, really well lately. These are the hard numbers to look at: http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/lfss04a-eng.htm

The unemployment rate is lower than Calgary's and employment went up by 3% last year. A couple of years ago Halifax had the fastest growing economy in Canada. That is all far above what I would have expected, and it may get even better in the coming years. It is entirely possible that Halifax will become a wealthy, high-growth city for several decades.
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Old Posted Feb 1, 2012, 4:52 AM
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This is interesting. A report with population, employment, etc. projections from 2004: http://www.halifax.ca/regionalplanni...ctions_001.pdf

The projection for employment in Halifax in 2026 is about 230,000, up from 190,000 in 2001. In 2012 Halifax is already at 225,000 employed: http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/lfss04a-eng.htm

Similarly the projected population for 2016 is 411,250 but as of 2012 Halifax is at around 410,000.

The city is going to blow past all of those projections.

Good thing city council has been aggressively planning for all this growth.
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